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Madison FN, Bingman VP, Smulders TV, Lattin CR. A bird's eye view of the hippocampus beyond space: Behavioral, neuroanatomical, and neuroendocrine perspectives. Horm Behav 2024; 157:105451. [PMID: 37977022 DOI: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2023] [Revised: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 11/05/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
Although the hippocampus is one of the most-studied brain regions in mammals, research on the avian hippocampus has been more limited in scope. It is generally agreed that the hippocampus is an ancient feature of the amniote brain, and therefore homologous between the two lineages. Because birds and mammals are evolutionarily not very closely related, any shared anatomy is likely to be crucial for shared functions of their hippocampi. These functions, in turn, are likely to be essential if they have been conserved for over 300 million years. Therefore, research on the avian hippocampus can help us understand how this brain region evolved and how it has changed over evolutionary time. Further, there is a strong research foundation in birds on hippocampal-supported behaviors such as spatial navigation, food caching, and brood parasitism that scientists can build upon to better understand how hippocampal anatomy, network circuitry, endocrinology, and physiology can help control these behaviors. In this review, we summarize our current understanding of the avian hippocampus in spatial cognition as well as in regulating anxiety, approach-avoidance behavior, and stress responses. Although there are still some questions about the exact number of subdivisions in the avian hippocampus and how that might vary in different avian families, there is intriguing evidence that the avian hippocampus might have complementary functional profiles along the rostral-caudal axis similar to the dorsal-ventral axis of the rodent hippocampus, where the rostral/dorsal hippocampus is more involved in cognitive processes like spatial learning and the caudal/ventral hippocampus regulates emotional states, anxiety, and the stress response. Future research should focus on elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms - including endocrinological - in the avian hippocampus that underlie behaviors such as spatial navigation, spatial memory, and anxiety-related behaviors, and in so doing, resolve outstanding questions about avian hippocampal function and organization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farrah N Madison
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
| | - Verner P Bingman
- Department of Psychology, J. P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA
| | - Tom V Smulders
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, School of Psychology, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4DR, UK
| | - Christine R Lattin
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA.
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2
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Herold C, Ockermann PN, Amunts K. Behavioral Training Related Neurotransmitter Receptor Expression Dynamics in the Nidopallium Caudolaterale and the Hippocampal Formation of Pigeons. Front Physiol 2022; 13:883029. [PMID: 35600306 PMCID: PMC9114877 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2022.883029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Learning and memory are linked to dynamic changes at the level of synapses in brain areas that are involved in cognitive tasks. For example, changes in neurotransmitter receptors are prerequisite for tuning signals along local circuits and long-range networks. However, it is still unclear how a series of learning events promotes plasticity within the system of neurotransmitter receptors and their subunits to shape information processing at the neuronal level. Therefore, we investigated the expression of different glutamatergic NMDA (GRIN) and AMPA (GRIA) receptor subunits, the GABAergic GABARG2 subunit, dopaminergic DRD1, serotonergic 5HTR1A and noradrenergic ADRA1A receptors in the pigeon’s brain. We studied the nidopallium caudolaterale, the avian analogue of the prefrontal cortex, and the hippocampal formation, after training the birds in a rewarded stimulus-response association (SR) task and in a simultaneous-matching-to-sample (SMTS) task. The results show that receptor expression changed differentially after behavioral training compared to an untrained control group. In the nidopallium caudolaterale, GRIN2B, GRIA3, GRIA4, DRD1D, and ADRA1A receptor expression was altered after SR training and remained constantly decreased after the SMTS training protocol, while GRIA2 and DRD1A decreased only under the SR condition. In the hippocampal formation, GRIN2B decreased and GABARG2 receptor expression increased after SR training. After SMTS sessions, GRIN2B remained decreased, GABARG2 remained increased if compared to the control group. None of the investigated receptors differed directly between both conditions, although differentially altered. The changes in both regions mostly occur in favor of the stimulus response task. Thus, the present data provide evidence that neurotransmitter receptor expression dynamics play a role in the avian prefrontal cortex and the hippocampal formation for behavioral training and is uniquely, regionally and functionally associated to cognitive processes including learning and memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Herold
- C. & O. Vogt-Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, University Hospital and Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Philipp N Ockermann
- C. & O. Vogt-Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, University Hospital and Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Katrin Amunts
- C. & O. Vogt-Institute for Brain Research, Medical Faculty, University Hospital and Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine INM-1, Research Center Jülich, Jülich, Germany
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3
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Hough GE. Neural Substrates of Homing Pigeon Spatial Navigation: Results From Electrophysiology Studies. Front Psychol 2022; 13:867939. [PMID: 35465504 PMCID: PMC9020565 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.867939] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Over many centuries, the homing pigeon has been selectively bred for returning home from a distant location. As a result of this strong selective pressure, homing pigeons have developed an excellent spatial navigation system. This system passes through the hippocampal formation (HF), which shares many striking similarities to the mammalian hippocampus; there are a host of shared neuropeptides, interconnections, and its role in the storage and manipulation of spatial maps. There are some notable differences as well: there are unique connectivity patterns and spatial encoding strategies. This review summarizes the comparisons between the avian and mammalian hippocampal systems, and the responses of single neurons in several general categories: (1) location and place cells responding in specific areas, (2) path and goal cells responding between goal locations, (3) context-dependent cells that respond before or during a task, and (4) pattern, grid, and boundary cells that increase firing at stable intervals. Head-direction cells, responding to a specific compass direction, are found in mammals and other birds but not to date in pigeons. By studying an animal that evolved under significant adaptive pressure to quickly develop a complex and efficient spatial memory system, we may better understand the comparative neurology of neurospatial systems, and plot new and potentially fruitful avenues of comparative research in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gerald E Hough
- Department of Biological Sciences, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, United States.,Department of Psychology, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, United States
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Space, feature, and risk sensitivity in homing pigeons (Columba livia): Broadening the conversation on the role of the avian hippocampus in memory. Learn Behav 2021; 50:99-112. [PMID: 34918206 DOI: 10.3758/s13420-021-00500-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
David Sherry has been a pioneer in investigating the avian hippocampal formation (HF) and spatial memory. Following on his work and observations that HF is sensitive to the occurrence of reward (food), we were interested in carrying out an exploratory study to investigate possible HF involvement in the representation goal value and risk. Control sham-lesioned and hippocampal-lesioned pigeons were trained in an open field to locate one food bowl containing a constant two food pellets on all trials, and two variable bowls with one containing five pellets on 75% (High Variable) and another on 25% (Low Variable) of their respective trials (High-Variable and Low-Variable bowls were never presented together). One pairing of pigeons learned bowl locations (space); another bowl colors (feature). Trained to color, hippocampal-lesioned pigeons performed as rational agents in their bowl choices and were indistinguishable from the control pigeons, a result consistent with HF regarded as unimportant for non-spatial memory. By contrast, when trained to location, hippocampal-lesioned pigeons differed from the control pigeons. They made more first-choice errors to bowls that never contained food, consistent with a role of HF in spatial memory. Intriguingly, the hippocampal-lesioned pigeons also made fewer first choices to both variable bowls, suggesting that hippocampal lesions resulted in the pigeons becoming more risk averse. Acknowledging that the results are preliminary and further research is needed, the data nonetheless support the general hypothesis that HF-dependent memory representations of space capture properties of reward value and risk, properties that contribute to decision making when confronted with a choice.
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Rodríguez F, Quintero B, Amores L, Madrid D, Salas-Peña C, Salas C. Spatial Cognition in Teleost Fish: Strategies and Mechanisms. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:2271. [PMID: 34438729 PMCID: PMC8388456 DOI: 10.3390/ani11082271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2021] [Revised: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 07/28/2021] [Indexed: 01/25/2023] Open
Abstract
Teleost fish have been traditionally considered primitive vertebrates compared to mammals and birds in regard to brain complexity and behavioral functions. However, an increasing amount of evidence suggests that teleosts show advanced cognitive capabilities including spatial navigation skills that parallel those of land vertebrates. Teleost fish rely on a multiplicity of sensory cues and can use a variety of spatial strategies for navigation, ranging from relatively simple body-centered orientation responses to allocentric or "external world-centered" navigation, likely based on map-like relational memory representations of the environment. These distinct spatial strategies are based on separate brain mechanisms. For example, a crucial brain center for egocentric orientation in teleost fish is the optic tectum, which can be considered an essential hub in a wider brain network responsible for the generation of egocentrically referenced actions in space. In contrast, other brain centers, such as the dorsolateral telencephalic pallium of teleost fish, considered homologue to the hippocampal pallium of land vertebrates, seem to be crucial for allocentric navigation based on map-like spatial memory. Such hypothetical relational memory representations endow fish's spatial behavior with considerable navigational flexibility, allowing them, for example, to perform shortcuts and detours.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | - Cosme Salas
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Universidad de Sevilla, 41018 Sevilla, Spain; (F.R.); (B.Q.); (L.A.); (D.M.); (C.S.-P.)
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Rodríguez-Expósito B, Gómez A, Martín-Monzón I, Reiriz M, Rodríguez F, Salas C. Goldfish hippocampal pallium is essential to associate temporally discontiguous events. Neurobiol Learn Mem 2017; 139:128-134. [PMID: 28065713 DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2017.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2016] [Revised: 12/20/2016] [Accepted: 01/04/2017] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
There is general agreement that the hippocampus of vertebrates, from fish to mammals, is involved in map-like spatial memory. However, in mammals the role of the hippocampus goes beyond the spatial domain as it is also involved in binding the temporally separate events that compose episodic memories. In this regard, the hippocampus of mammals is essential for trace classical conditioning, in which a stimulus-free time gap separates the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US), but not for delay conditioning, in which both stimuli coincide in time. Although the involvement of the hippocampus in encoding relational memories based on a temporal frame-work has been extensively studied in mammals, there is scarce evidence about the possible contribution of the hippocampus of non-mammalian vertebrates to the temporal, non-spatial dimension of relational memories. The present work was aimed to determine if the ventral part of the lateral division of the area dorsalis telencephali (Dlv) of goldfish, proposed as homologous to the hippocampus of mammals, is also involved in trace classical conditioning. With this purpose, goldfish with lesions in Dlv, complete telencephalon ablation and sham operation, were trained in delay and trace heart rate classical conditioning. Dlv lesions severely impaired the acquisition of the conditioned response when a stimulus-free time gap was elapsed between the CS and the US (trace conditioning), but not when both stimuli overlapped in time (delay conditioning), revealing that this region, like the hippocampus of mammals, is essential to form the temporal associative memories required by trace conditioning. Present data suggest that the presence of a hippocampal pallium involved in relational, episodic-like memory that preserves both the spatial and the temporal dimensions of past events, could be a primitive feature of the vertebrate brain that has been conserved through evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- B Rodríguez-Expósito
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Universidad de Sevilla, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Sevilla 41018, Spain.
| | - A Gómez
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Universidad de Sevilla, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Sevilla 41018, Spain.
| | - I Martín-Monzón
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Universidad de Sevilla, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Sevilla 41018, Spain.
| | - M Reiriz
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Universidad de Sevilla, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Sevilla 41018, Spain.
| | - F Rodríguez
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Universidad de Sevilla, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Sevilla 41018, Spain.
| | - C Salas
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Universidad de Sevilla, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Sevilla 41018, Spain; Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Chile.
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Gómez A, Rodríguez-Expósito B, Durán E, Martín-Monzón I, Broglio C, Salas C, Rodríguez F. Relational and procedural memory systems in the goldfish brain revealed by trace and delay eyeblink-like conditioning. Physiol Behav 2016; 167:332-340. [PMID: 27720737 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/06/2016] [Revised: 09/30/2016] [Accepted: 10/04/2016] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The presence of multiple memory systems supported by different neural substrata has been demonstrated in animal and human studies. In mammals, two variants of eyeblink classical conditioning, differing only in the temporal relationships between the conditioned stimulus (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US), have been widely used to study the neural substrata of these different memory systems. Delay conditioning, in which both stimuli coincide in time, depends on a non-relational memory system supported by the cerebellum and associated brainstem circuits. In contrast, trace conditioning, in which a stimulus-free time gap separates the CS and the US, requires a declarative or relational memory system, thus depending on forebrain structures in addition to the cerebellum. The distinction between the explicit or relational and the implicit or procedural memory systems that support trace and delay classical conditioning has been extensively studied in mammals, but studies in other vertebrate groups are relatively scarce. In the present experiment we analyzed the differential involvement of the cerebellum and the telencephalon in delay and trace eyeblink-like classical conditioning in goldfish. The results show that whereas the cerebellum lesion prevented the eyeblink-like conditioning in both procedures, the telencephalon ablation impaired exclusively the acquisition of the trace conditioning. These data showing that comparable neural systems support delay and trace eyeblink conditioning in teleost fish and mammals suggest that these separate memory systems and their neural bases could be a shared ancestral brain feature of the vertebrate lineage.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Gómez
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
| | - B Rodríguez-Expósito
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
| | - E Durán
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
| | - I Martín-Monzón
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
| | - C Broglio
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
| | - C Salas
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain; Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Chile
| | - F Rodríguez
- Laboratorio de Psicobiología, Campus Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain
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Sizemore BA, Bingman VP. Time-of-Day Discriminative Learning: Contrasting the Use of Spatial Compared to Feature Information in Homing Pigeons (Columba livia). Ethology 2016. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Brittany A. Sizemore
- Bowling Green State University; Bowling Green OH USA
- J. P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind, and Behavior; Bowling Green OH USA
| | - Verner P. Bingman
- Bowling Green State University; Bowling Green OH USA
- J. P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Mind, and Behavior; Bowling Green OH USA
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9
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Changes in hippocampal volume and neuron number co-occur with memory decline in old homing pigeons (Columba livia). Neurobiol Learn Mem 2016; 131:117-20. [DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2016.03.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2016] [Revised: 03/16/2016] [Accepted: 03/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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10
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Mayer U, Pecchia T, Bingman VP, Flore M, Vallortigara G. Hippocampus and medial striatum dissociation during goal navigation by geometry or features in the domestic chick: An immediate early gene study. Hippocampus 2015; 26:27-40. [DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22486] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/24/2015] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Uwe Mayer
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC); University of Trento; Piazza Manifattura 1 Rovereto (TN) Italy
| | - Tommaso Pecchia
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC); University of Trento; Piazza Manifattura 1 Rovereto (TN) Italy
| | - Verner Peter Bingman
- Department of Psychology and J.P. Scott Center for Neuroscience; Mind and Behavior, Bowling Green State University; Bowling Green Ohio
| | - Michele Flore
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC); University of Trento; Piazza Manifattura 1 Rovereto (TN) Italy
| | - Giorgio Vallortigara
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CIMeC); University of Trento; Piazza Manifattura 1 Rovereto (TN) Italy
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Herold C, Coppola VJ, Bingman VP. The maturation of research into the avian hippocampal formation: Recent discoveries from one of the nature's foremost navigators. Hippocampus 2015; 25:1193-211. [DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/27/2015] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Christina Herold
- C. & O. Vogt-Institute of Brain Research, University of Düsseldorf; Düsseldorf Germany
| | - Vincent J. Coppola
- Department of Psychology; J. P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Bowling Green State University; Bowling Green Ohio
| | - Verner P. Bingman
- Department of Psychology; J. P. Scott Center for Neuroscience, Bowling Green State University; Bowling Green Ohio
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12
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An in depth view of avian sleep. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2015; 50:120-7. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.07.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2014] [Revised: 07/21/2014] [Accepted: 07/26/2014] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
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Broglio C, Martín-Monzón I, Ocaña FM, Gómez A, Durán E, Salas C, Rodríguez F. Hippocampal Pallium and Map-Like Memories through Vertebrate Evolution. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015. [DOI: 10.4236/jbbs.2015.53011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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14
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Lazareva OF, Kandray K, Acerbo MJ. Hippocampal lesion and transitive inference: Dissociation of inference-based and reinforcement-based strategies in pigeons. Hippocampus 2014; 25:219-26. [DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/10/2014] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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